Wholeness

1/1/2015
Uniqueness

I never bought the ideas taught by http://punktorah.org/ and other "cool" sites that try to make Judaism fit modern day culture, however I have started to appreciate the importance of being different and unique. Although I am many things only a few of them define me, such as being culturally and religiously Jewish something that I embraced as an adult. At the same time I don't want to anymore to fit any traditional stereotypes since I been working on that for a while to decrease attention to my Hispanic origin. My experience of American culture is that labels and assumptions about someone's backgrounds are very prevalent and it takes a lot of energy to educate others about Jewish history and migration. All I am saying is that I am finally embracing my uniqueness and hope that this will become apparent in this blog

5/02/2010
Spiritual Support at the Time of Crisis

“God seeks out broken vessels for His use, as it says: "God is the healer of shattered hearts" Psalms 147:3, Lev.R. 7:2


     Through my graduate work and clinical pastoral education, I have developed a clinical practice around counseling and pastoral concepts which focuses on the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of my patients. Through my experience working in different hospitals, I have witnessed amazing examples of human resilience and learned to communicate concepts of hope to my patients. I have also learned to assess if they are transcending their illness or being consumed by it. Meditating on Victor Frankl’s conclusions from his experience as a survivor of the concentration camps "...man's inner strength may raise him above his outward fate,"[1]Emotional trauma affects the mental health of the patient to the point of causing irreparable damage. The Jewish sage Nahmanides specifically included mental illness in the category of pirkuah nefesh (saving a life) which overrides all other obligations and prohibitions.[2] The training I received as a clinical chaplain focuses on recovery and healing a person's mental as well as physical health. Jewish thinker Eugene Borowitz, in his article Please, God, Heal Her, Please writes about Jewish motivation for our involvement in healthcare “Every cure is a small redemption, surely an underground reason why Jews in disproportionate numbers spend their lives doing therapy. They want to help usher in the Messiah.” One key concept in chaplaincy is that healing can come in many ways, below are some ways that I could have been present with the patient in his pain.





[1] Frankl, Victor Man’s Search for Meaning, Foreword X.

[2] Dorff, Matters of Life and Death, 266
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HYPERLINK "%26sort=relevancerank%26search-alias=books%26field-author=Abraham%20Joshua%20Hesch

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